Mount Mary Church, Bandra

Mount Mary Church, officially known as Basilica of Our Lady of the Mount, located in Bandra, is a Roman Catholic Church which is most famous for its annual Mount Mary Fair.

The church is located on a small hill approximately 8 km above sea level facing the Arabian Sea. Although the current church is only a hundred-year-old, the legend following the statue is very interesting. It is believed that a Koli fisherman dreamt of finding this statue in the sea in his dreams, and, the statue was actually found floating in the sea sometime between 1700 to 1760. The fisherman had named the statue as Mot Mauli which translates to The Pearl Mother. 

The present day church was built Shapoorjee Chandabhoy and the construction for the same began in 1902. Mount Mary Church was designated the stature of a Basilica by the Vatican in the year 1954. In 1986, Pope John Paul II visited the church.

The annual Mount Mary Fair also called the Bandra Fair is held every year within the Mount Mary Church complex and takes place on the first Sunday following September 8th. September 8th is believed to be the birthday of Mother Mary (Virgin Mary). It is a week-long celebration which includes prayers, feasts, shopping stalls selling religious stuff and snacks, amusement rides, and much more. Some of these stalls also sell wax candles and figures of Mother mary and different body parts made of wax such as feet, hands, etc. It is believed that if you lit a candle corresponding to a body part which is giving you troubles or you are suffering from some ailment in a particular part of your body and you lit a wax candle of that shape, Mother Mary takes away your sufferings.